Hazelwood coal mine fire hotspots remain

The fire was declared safe and the site handed over to the mine's operator GDF Suez in late March.

Mr Lapsley says there are some remaining small hotspots in the mine underneath cladding that throw up smoke occasionally.

He says the Morwell brigade continue to help with monitoring and extra resources are on hand.

"The aerial appliances are still in around the Valley, and all of those other technical things with thermal cameras are here as well, so the technology is here and it's just a matter of deploying it if its needed," he said.

"We'd suggest it's not needed in what it's shown up over the last few weeks but we don't want to have anything that might pop up that needs to have special attention - if it needs it, it will get it."

Meanwhile, Victoria's chief health officer, Rosemary Lester, says there is no certainty that people exposed to the Hazelwood coal mine fire will not contract serious illness.

Dr Lester was in Morwell yesterday to ask residents what they would like included in a 10-year health study on their exposure to the fire.

She says she would like the study to span longer than a decade but the Government could not sign a longer contract.

Dr Lester says there is no certainty that residents will not experience long-term health effects like cancer, heart and lung conditions.

"We want to be able to improve future planning and response to any similar event, heaven forbid that anything like this will happen again, but we want to make sure that we learn from this experience and make sure that any response to a future experience, that we take that opportunity to learn," she said.